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Box Score

UW-Parkside Postgame Press Conference

NCAA Tournament Central

SOMERS, Wis. (Mar. 12, 2016)-- Overcoming a double-digit deficit, the top-seeded University of Wisconsin-Parkside men's basketball squad tallied its first NCAA Division II Tournament victory in program history on Saturday evening, pleasing the home crowd inside DeSimone Gymnasium with a 74-65 win over eighth-seeded Kentucky Wesleyan College.
 
With the victory, 13th-ranked UW-Parkside (25-5) advances to the Midwest Region semifinals and will face the winner of the Lewis University-Saginaw Valley State University game at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday night.
 
The visiting and ninth-ranked Panthers (27-4) dominated the opening 10 minutes of play with Devin Langford sinking a three with 10:04 left to give KWC the 21-10 advantage. Undaunted, the Rangers ripped off the next 11 points, tying the contest at 21 off an Andy Mazurczak three-pointer. KWC briefly reclaimed the lead before the Rangers scored eight of the next nine to own a five-point edge before taking a 34-31 edge into the locker room at the break.
 
UW-Parkside's lead ballooned to nine early in the second stanza off a Alexander Brown trey but Kentucky Wesleyan battled back, reclaiming the lead at 48-46 with 11:42 left off a tip-in from C.J. Blackwell. The two juggernauts traded leads for the next five minutes including Kyle Flanagan converting a layup with 6:19 left to give the Green and White a 55-53 edge. UW-Parkside never trailed the rest of the way, pulling away over the final three minutes turning a one possession lead with 3:18 remaining into a 10-point bulge with 33 seconds left in route to the historic win.
 
UW-Parkside's NCAA Tournament victory was the program's first NCAA win in four trips and the Rangers' first national tournament win since a run at the 1978 NAIA Tournament.
 
Brown spearheaded the Ranger offense, piling on 22 points while Andy Mazurczak netted 19 along with seven assists, eclipsing the 1,500-point barrier in his career and tying Kyle Clark for sixth on the all-time scoring list with 1,512 points. Kendale McCullum was the third Ranger in double figures, netting 17 points while Goran Zagorac added seven off the bench. Flanagan led the team on the glass with seven rebounds.
 
Jordan Jacks led the Panthers with 14 points and 13 boards with Blackwell adding 12 points.
 
A physical KWC owned a 44-25 edge in points in the paint and held a commanding 42-26 rebounding edge but the Rangers won the turnover battle, owning a 19-11 lead in points off turnovers.

Gates open at 4 p.m. tomorrow with the first Midwest Semifinal between Sixth-seeded University of Indianapolis and seventh-seeded Ferris State University getting underway at 5 p.m. with the Rangers to follow at 7:30 p.m.